


If Things Had Been Different

by AshWinterGray



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Begging, Blood and Torture, F/M, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Hurt Steve Harrington, Imprisonment, Insanity, Mild Gore, Murder, Screaming, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Suicidal Thoughts, Therapy, Torture, Truth Revealed, Truth Serum, begging for death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 16:16:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19749280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshWinterGray/pseuds/AshWinterGray
Summary: What if, the Russians hadn't kept Steve and Robin together as they got their answers?I found it kind of odd that the Russians almost instantly put the two in the same room when beating Steve up didn't work. That's just not you're basic torture routine. That's the last ditch effort.When Dustin and Erica go to save the two teens, they only find Robin. They don't have time to go back for Steve. When they all meet in the mall, they realize they can't leave Steve behind, monster or no monster. So rather than attempt to flee, they go down into the base to destroy the gate and save their friend. They hope...





	If Things Had Been Different

**Author's Note:**

> I have bad thoughts sometimes....

“What did you do to him?” Robin demanded as she looked at the Russians. “What did you do?”

The Russian general slapped her across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground of her cell. Yes, her cell. When they had first entered her cell, she thought they might bring Steve back to her. Or at least bring her to Steve. But so far, that hadn’t happened. They’d asked her questions, interigoated her, but had gotten nothing. It was only when they had thrown a comment out about Steve that she finally panicked.

“Ah!” Robin hissed as she tried to stop her head from reeling. Why did the floor have to be so hard? “What-what did you do?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” the general grinned at her.

And then there were alarms blaring, and they were all frantic and racing from the room to find the source of the problem. A few seconds later saw Dustin running forward to free her.

“Where’s Steve?” he asked.

“I-I don’t know?” she stuttered, looking around.

She had been isolated, no other rooms nearby for miles and miles. Which meant Steve wasn’t here. The thought made her stomach drop, and Dustin had to shove her to the weird vehicle thing and into the back.

“We’ve got to find him,” Dustin stated.

“We don’t have time,” Erica snapped. “Come on! We can go get help once we’re above ground.”

Dustin didn’t like it, but Erica was right. Their distraction was only going to work for so long, and time was of the essence. So he slammed down on the gas and drove them to the elevator.

Down an opposite hallway, Steve screamed.

\-----------------------------------

He’d told them, over and over again, he’d told them. He wasn’t working for anyone. He wasn’t hired by anyone. He worked at the stupid mall they apparently owned. And yet they refused to believe him. Had only gotten more pain.

When they injected him with the drugs, he’d been so high, but he didn’t slip up. Not once. Not even when they started to yank out his finger nails one by one. He’d screamed, screamed the same answers over and over again because they _had_ to believe him at some point, right?

Wrong.

When the fingernail removal and drugs didn’t get a different answer, they had carved a mark into his back with a scorching hot poker iron. When that still didn’t work, they’d hooked him to a machine and shocked him for what felt like years. When that _still_ did not appease the Russians, they started to cut into his body. They threatened to remove limbs.

The pain was too great, and Steve began to tell them all about what happened in 1983 to today.

“It started when a kid went missing, dragged into the Gate you are trying to open,” Steve took a shaky breath, sobbing out as he spoke. “It was originally opened by a little girl created by a psychopath that worked for the American government. And it unleashed a monster. A terrifying monster that smells blood when you bleed, and can’t be controlled because it is already controlled. And if you keep that gate open, it will probably kill us all.”

\-------------------------------

“Where’s Steve?” Nancy asked.

“The-the Russian’s still have him,” Robin muttered, still shaking as she realized Steve had been with the Russians for a day. “He’s still down there with them. I-I think they were going to _torture_ him.”

“We have to go back down there,” Dustin stressed.

“Wait,” Mike stated, eyeing Dustin like he was crazy. “You _left_ him there? In the hands of _Russians_.”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Erica snapped. “By the time Dustin and I executed our plan to save them, they had already moved Steve to a different location. We only had ten minutes at the most to get out of there ourselves.”

“But he could be dying?” Lucas protested. “And you _left_ him there!”

“You think I don’t know that!?” Dustin snapped back, looking completely hysterical to the point everyone had to take a step back. “Well guess what, I do! I do know that! I also know it’s my fault he’s even down there! If I had just left the stupid message alone, or at least actually reported it, then none of this would have happened!”

El released a scream then, falling to the ground, and Steve was once more forgotten.

\-----------------

“And, how do you expect us to believe this story?” the general questioned Steve. “How do we know you are not just trying to stop us?”

Steve was tired, far to exhausted as he let out a pained chuckle. Every inch of his body screamed at the movement, but he had stopped caring by now.

“Whatever you want man,” Steve kept chuckling. “Whatever you want. You asked for the truth, there is the truth. And now we’re all going to die because the Gate is open and I’m bleeding.”

Steve couldn’t stop laughing, it was all just too funny. He’d had so many nightmares about dying at the hands of the Demogorgon, or the Mind-Flayer, or a Demodog. Now, now that was going to come true and Steve couldn’t stop laughing despite the pain.

“The Gate, as you call it,” the general began, “isn’t even open.”

Steve laughed harder for a moment. “Yes it is. All you gotta do is send a guy through those weird membrane stuff, and poof, you’re in the Upside Down.”

He continued to laugh hysterically. Beside him, the Russian General began to yell at his men in Russian, making Steve’s laugh come out twice as hard.

“Careful,” Steve laughed. “Careful. It’s poisonous!”

The General eyed him, wondering if it was the torture that had broken this boy, or the truth that had just been relayed. The general came to the conclusion that it was both, but the torture had only been the tipping point.

“Продолжить,” the General told the doctor.

As the door shut, the General took a deep satisfaction from the screams.

\------------------------------------

“STEVE IS DOWN THERE!” Dustin screamed as the group continued to argue about who was going to go where. “STEVE IS STILL DOWN THERE!”

Looks of horror fell over Joyce, Hopper, and Bauman as the realization of what this meant struck them.

“We have to help,” Mike stated. “We have to help. And as long as the monster can’t find us, we’ll be okay.”

“I said no!” Hopper barked back.

“Steve’s hurt,” El whispered, catching everyone’s attention. “Really badly. He’s suffering. I have to help. Please. He’s our friend. I have to help!”

“I know,” Hopper said softly. “But I need you safe.”

“No!” everyone jolted as they looked to Will. “No! We can’t just sit here anymore! Not when one of our Party is hurt!”

“Hold on, since when is _Steve_ a part of our-?”

“Since he protected you in those stupid tunnels!” Will snapped at his friend, taking a lead no one had ever seen before. “Since he started giving us rides to wherever we wanted to go! Since he started giving us free ice-cream and sneaking us into R-rated movies! He’s our friend, Mike, and until Robin came along, we were his only friends! He’s a part of our Party, and we _never_ leave Party members behind. So we are all going down there. We are all going to do a job. And we are all going to survive this. Alright?”

“Will,” Joyce tried.

“No mom,” Will shook his head. “Not this time. For once, I’m not helpless. I’m actually here this time, and I can help. So let me help.”

“We still have a ton of fireworks too,” Lucas offered, and there’s a weapons shop on this floor too. “I’m in.”

“Me too!”

“Seconded.”

“Agreed.”

“Can we just go?”

“Wait,” Erica pipped up. “We can’t, someone needs to give directions to where each person needs to go. And the underground is almost a dead zone. What’ll we do if that Doctor Owens guy brings military back-up?”

“She’s right,” Hopper gruffed.

But the kids were already sharing looks.

“ _Cerebro!_ ”

\-------------------------

They hadn’t cut off his limbs, hadn’t cut off anything as far as Steve could tell. But he was a bloody mess, still strapped to the chair, bruises around every area the straps had restrained him. He just sort of watched as the Russian Torture Doctor cleaned off his tools.

“Probably not very useful anymore,” Steve hummed as the doctor moved a different set of tools. “So I guess you just get to have fun.”

The doctor paused to look at him.

“S’okay,” he muttered. “I was never very useful to anyone anyways.”

Steve didn’t even flinch when the door was thrown open, just let himself stare at the ceiling.

“Убери его” the general barked at the doctor and the others that entered. “Он был прав. Мы берем его с собой.”

Then there were people ripping off his shirt, and he was being injected with something else, and there were washcloths and bandages and voice. And Steve felt different than the first time he was injected. This almost felt as if he was floating.

When whatever they had injected him with was done, he noticed that he was no bandaged from head to toe, and wearing a hospital gown. His scoops ahoy clothes were completely shredded, and he knew his manager was going to be furious.

“The Gate,” Steve managed to croak, his throat so dry. “The Gate. Destroy it.”

The General eyed him for a moment, but said nothing.

“It can’t be controlled,” Steve whispered, feeling his body get heavy. “It will control you first.”

“We will see when we get to Russia,” the General snapped.

Steve didn’t have the time to process this because he was suddenly lifted into a cushioned box, like a coffin, strapped down to it, gagged, and enclosed in darkness. This was somehow worse than the torture and Steve screamed through the gag.

\------------------------

Hopper gladly opened fire on the Russians without any hesitation. The gate was open, people were dead, his daughter was hurt, he had been beat up, Alexei was dead, and Steve Harrington was trapped in an underground torture chamber.

He had no problem killing these jerks.

“I had it under control,” Bauman yelled at Hopper.

“And we have lives to save,” Hopper barked back. “Now we’re improvising. Grab their outfits.”

Jonathan, Hopper, Bauman, Mike, Robin, Max and Joyce all managed to grab outfits.

“Right,” Hopper nodded. “Everyone knows what to do?”

The group nodded.

“Good,” Hopper sighed with a nod. “Let’s get started.”

With Dustin and Erica’s instructions, the group began to move about the base, doing their jobs. Joyce, Hopper, Mike, and Jonathan were a team, going for the keys to blow up the device. Bauman was stuck with Will and Lucas, searching for the power grid to overload it. Robin, Nancy, Max, and El were searching for Steve, and it was in the elevator that they realized El’s powers weren’t working.

Here they were, ready to win. No matter the cost. The rendition of the NeverEnding Story song was cute though. And perfect blackmail material.

\--------------------

Steve had stopped screaming, couldn’t bring himself to scream anymore. He was going to get shipped to Russia and there was nothing he could do about it. He’d already been moved somewhere. Probably a loading doc or something.

Taking a breath, Steve accepted his fate.

No one was coming.

He was alone.

\-----------------------

“NO!”

Mike, in a stupid act of idiocy, jumped onto the assassins back.

“Leave him alone!” Mike brought some sort of electrical equipment down on the man’s hand. Once. Twice. Three times. The Russian staggered to the ground. “Leave him alone!”

The Russian then jerked back, slamming Mike against the back railing near the machine.

“Get off my daughter’s boyfriend!” Hopper shouted as he tackled the Russian.

Jonathan appeared next to Hopper, delivering a punch that sent the Russian back. And with a shove from Mike, the Russian just about fell into the machine. Before the machine exploded, Jonathan managed to drag Mike and Hopper back to the control room, narrowly avoiding the electrical wave that would have trapped them. A few second later had them back in the control room, and Joyce turned the keys.

The gate closed and the machine exploded. It was over.

“Go! Go!” Hopper urged them. “Come on! We need to find Steve!”

\-----------------------

“Billy,” Max gaped at her brother, watched as Nancy raised her gun and aimed. “Billy, please. This isn’t you. Please.”

They weren’t sure how Billy got down there, but they knew it meant that the monster wasn’t too far behind. If the sounds of screams and shouts from Russians were anything to go by, the thing was coming. And soon.

“Please, Billy,” Max was begging. “They have Steve! Please! They have Steve!”

Something flashed in Billy’s eyes for a moment, just a moment.

“Harrington?” Billy’s voice sounded dull.

“They took him,” El whimpered from where she was tucked into Robin’s arms. “They took him. They _hurt_ him. They hurt _Steve._ You’re friend.”

“Please, Billy,” Max was begging now. “Please, you have to remember the good things. Remember how Steve got us free ice cream that one time. Remember those nights we stayed at his place because Neil was too much. Remember how he’d talk both our ears off whenever we were depressed or upset or just need a voice to distract us. Remember when he was so excited that you got that job at the pool and he tried to compare it to the beach. Please, Billy. Please. They took Steve, they hurt Steve. He might-he might.

_He might already be dead._

Billy was shaking falling to his knees as each sentence brought memories of days when Max had insisted they “hang-out” with Steve. Steve, who believed he wasn’t worth anything in the world but managed to somehow save everyone else. Had the idiot really gotten taken by Russians?

“Robin,” he gasped, spotting Steve’s co-worker. He’d always liked her sass. “Robin. Please. He-he didn’t, he can’t…”

“He was protecting us,” Robin whispered.

Of course he was. Steve had no self-preservation skills. Billy locked eyes with the girl that the monster wanted dead, and he nodded. Because if it came to Steve, Billy was going to return the favor one way or another. Forget the stupid monster. But he was fighting a battle, and he was losing.

“Happy,” El whispered, looking at him directly. “You were on the beach, with your mom. You told her the wave was seven feet.”

And as El kept talking, kept bringing forth the memory where Billy felt happiest, he managed to gain some control. No, he had total control. 

Some Russian soldiers raced down the hall, and Billy quickly pinned one to the wall.

“Where is he?” Billy hissed.

“Down the hallway,” a different Russian voice spoke. “He has been placed in a box for moving. My superiors believe him to be of value, but I have him placed in an area he will not be found by our men. If you would come with me.”

“And why should we trust you?” Nancy turned the gun on the Russian guy.

“I have done many things in my life,” the man began. “Have learned to torture in many ways. But my job, my oath, was only ever to use my knowledge to harm those who would harm my country. Your, what is his pronunciation, Steevee, is not a threat. He seeks only to protect, and because of this, I have broken my oath.”

Billy dropped the Russian he was holding, now unconscious. “Let me make myself clear,” Billy stalked forward. “If you’re lying, I will kill you.”

“I have no doubt of that,” the doctor said calmly. “Steevee told us how this, Mind-Flamer, possesses and uses. And you, you have just overpowered it. You are a strong man, sir. And I respect that.”

With that, the doctor began to lead them to where he claimed Steve to be, Billy made sure to stay as far away from El as possible, not wishing to cause her any harm. If not for Max getting him to befriend Steve. If El hadn’t entered his mind. He’d be dead, or he’d have given El to that _thing_. Either option made him sick. But whatever state they were going to find Steve in was probably going to make him sick too.

“Here,” the man showed them the room. “Please, take your time. I must, eh, finish my cleaning.”

There was only one box in the room, almost like a coffin. Steve sized, too. Billy, still brimming with strength from the monster, managed to get his nails under the seal box and yank. He didn’t ask why El didn’t try. He just reacted. Billy’s breathing caught before the others could see what was inside.

“Steve?” Billy suddenly reached forward. “Steve? Steve? Come on man. You gotta wake up.”

Billy had pulled something, like a cloth or something, out of the box and had reached in again. Max had tempted to get closer and let out a gasp. Then she was dashing forward, lunging at something, but Billy held her back.

“Billy! He-!”

“He’s hurt, Max,” Billy stared at her. “Bad. Worse than-worse than-you know? We have to be gentle.”

Max looked at Billy and nodded. Then she was shifting forward, Nancy walking in her footsteps, and she gasped as Max began to undo the restraints.

“Steve,” El sobbed as she looked to the still, pale, broken body of her friend. “Steve? Steve? Steve!”

Robin had collapsed to her knees, and El had wiggled out of her arms so she could crawl over to him.

Then Billy’s body convulsed as he opened his mouth in a silent scream. The sound of the monster screaming erupted from somewhere nearby, and Billy was throwing up black sludge. Max was quickly at Billy’s side, Nancy trying to help once she realized what was happening.

“Gross,” a voice slurred.

“Steve?” El whispered frantically. “Steve?”

“Hey, El,” Steve gave a lazy smile. “You in Russia too?”

The statement wasn’t funny. Not really, but it was just so ridiculous, and Steve was laughing, so the others couldn’t help but laugh too. It was as if they had all suddenly gone hysterical.

\---------------------------

“They left their dead,” Doctor Owens told Hopper. “Just, packed up and went home. And infiltrating Russian would just be an all out war. But, uh, off the record, we do have people looking into it.”

Hopper gave a sharp nod, yanking the cigarette out of his mouth and stomping it on the ground. “And that doctor.”

“Suicide,” Owens sighed. “Our guess is it was his way to atone for harming an innocent.”

Hopper sighed, blowing out the last remnants of his cigarette smokes in one breath. Steve and Billy had it the worst, out of all of them. The kids had all been sent home, with the exception of El and Will, whose parents were still at the hospital. Joyce had a mild concussion, but nothing too serious. Mike had a minor concussion too. Nancy just had a bump. Jonathan was going to have serious bruising and was given recommended bed rest for the next month at least. Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Erica were all unharmed. Bauman was fine. El needed lots of rest and surgery, but was otherwise okay. Robin had the drugs flushed out. And Hopper was supposed to be on bed rest but was stubborn.

But Billy and Steve. It was pretty bad for them.

Physically, the doctors had no doubt that their bodies would heal and recuperate. They’d be their old selves with physical training in no time. But their mental state. That was yet to be determined.

“We will be hiring a real therapist this time,” Doctor Owens stated. “For both of them.”

“You better,” Hopper growled. “I swear, Owens. You better.”

Doctor Owens gave a deep sigh, pushing off the wall of the hospital and turning back to the door. He stopped for just a moment.

“I’m a Doctor, Chief. Not a miracle worker.”

But before Owens could even begin to head inside, a nurse came rushing out, frantic.

“It’s-it’s Mr. Harrington, sir,” she stuttered out. “He-he keeps asking about-about Russians. And-and when he-he’s going to die. We-we weren’t sure what to do.”

Hopper punched the wall, making the nurse launch into the air with a gasp.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Owens sighed.

“No,” Hopper spoke up. “I’ll try.”

And that was that. Soon enough, Hopper found himself walking into Steve’s room, the kid’s window was closed, not that he would have much of a view anyways. And the poor kid was forced to stare at the ceiling.

“Have you come to hurt me?” Steve asked, so calmly it made Hopper’s skin crawl.

“No,” Hopper gruffed, trying to steady his voice. “No, kid. I’m here to help. Can I help?”

Steve let out a laugh. “You’re not here, Hopper,” he hummed out. “No one’s coming. And you’re not real, so you can go away now.”

That, that was worse than anything Hopper could have imagined.

\--------------------------

“It’s been a month,” Joyce slammed her hands down onto the table. “And you’re telling me there has been no progress?”

“None,” Owens sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. “He still thinks he’s in Russia. He firmly believes we’re going to hurt him once he’s healed. Not even the kids or that Robin girl can get him to break out of it.”

“But you’ve made progress with Billy Hargrove,” Jonathan pointed to where Billy was tucked into both Nancy and Robin, Max and El in his lap. “Why can’t we reach Steve?”

“Because he knows all of you,” Owens sighed. “We got through to Billy because El managed to separate reality from illusion. For Steve, that never happened. He probably saw you while he was tortured, or he at least _expected_ to see each of you. I don’t know. Something’s just not clicking for him.”

The group was all trying to say something at once, all trying to get answers. All trying to find a solution. But something about what Owens said stuck to Dustin.

“So, what if we gave Steve something that he doesn’t remember?” Dustin pipped up, getting everyone’s attention. “Or, like, someone?”

“What are you talking about?” Mike stared at Dustin.

“There might be someone who can help,” Dustin grinned excitedly at everyone. “Someone Steve’s heard of but never seen before. And I haven’t brought her up since Steve has been in the hospital because it didn’t seem like the time. You know?”

“Suzie,” El smiled at him.

Dustin was beaming now. “We’ve just got to figure out how to convince her parents to let her come here. Because they are seriously Mormon, and they won’t just let her come up to see her non-Mormon boyfriend.”

Owens ended up coming up with an outrageous story of Suzie winning a vacation to a teens-end-of-summer-Mormon retreat, and that they would gladly have her if she desired to come. Suzie’s parents bought that lie a little too easily, but Dustin wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Suzie,” Dustin grinned as she gaped at him in surprise.

“Dusty-bun!”

“Hey,” he grinned, giving her a kiss. “I’m really sorry we lied to your parents. But we really, really need your help. You remember Steve, yeah?”

\----------------------

“You’re new,” Steve hummed as he glanced over the girl that was grinning at him. “And you don’t look Russian.”

Suzie giggled. “That’s because I’m not Russian,” she hummed at him, still glad to meet Dustin’s best friend, even if she now knew the truth. “I’m American. Though, technically, my ethnicity is Latino. But my family is Mormon.”

“Really, wow, that’s a lot of things,” Steve grinned at her.

“And you’re Steve Harrington,” she smiled softly this time, moving to grip his hand. “Babysitter extraordinaire. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Steve frowned at this.

“From the Russians?”

“No, silly,” Suzie beamed at him. “Of course not. I don’t speak Russian. Though I am taking French. Commet va tu?”

“Tres mal,” Steve sighed back, watching the girl now. “J'ai l'impression que mon corps est en feu.”

Suzie frowned at that. “Avez-vous besoin du docteur?”

“Non,” Steve shook his head. “Non. Non. Non.”

Suzie watched Steve for a moment, felt as his hand curled around her hand. And then she sighed. “Où as-tu appris à parler français?”

“Ma nourrice,” Steve hummed back at her. Then he frowned. “So, I’m back in America?”

“You never left,” Suzie slid onto the bed to set Steve’s hand in her lap. “You were found in the base, under Starcourt Mall. They brought you here to keep you safe and let you heal. The Americans, I mean. You’re safe now.”

“Really,” Steve eyes were wide with hope, the first wave of hope that he had probably had in a long time. “Then, then where are…”

“Steve,” Suzie gripped his hand tighter. “Do you know who I am?”

Steve shook his head, watching her.

“My name is Suzie.”

\--------------------------

“Come on, Harrington!” Billy teased. “You walk slower than my grandma!”

Steve scowled, but even he couldn’t help but grin as he was carted along. He was letting little Holly Wheeler push him around in his wheel chair for the day, the parents laughing as she tried, and Dustin hovering nearby only when Holly got Steve stuck.

“You are obnoxious,” Steve huffed as Billy cackled and ducked Steve’s hand from tagging him. “My aid is literally five.”

“All the more fun,” Billy grinned.

Suddenly, Max showed up beside Steve, offering her hand. The moment Steve tagged her, she lunged at Billy, tagged him, threw Holly into Steve’s lap, and raced them forward. Billy shouted his protest as he ran after them, grinning just as wide as the three.

They were all at the park, parents, teens, kids. It was one of the things they hoped would ease Steve’s mind. Some days, Steve would still be back with the Russians, and Suzie couldn’t stay to be Steve’s rock all the time. So they all had to sit there, trying to convince him that everything was real. That he was at home, safe.

“He better start walking soon,” Hopper huffed.

“I’m sure he can do the job without walking around,” Joyce patted his arm. “He’ll be fine, Hop. Really. If you’re that worried, then he can move in with us when we get a bigger house.”

That was, after all, the plan. With three, potentially four counting Steve, kids now, there wasn’t enough space. So, Joyce was going to sell her house and their family would be together. Hopper had also offered Steve and Robin jobs at the station, and he hoped that he would one day be able to send them to the police academy. But really, Hopper just wanted Steve close, to keep an eye on him.

“He’ll be fine,” Erica quipped. “He’s too happy to be depressed.”

**Translations:**

  * Продолжить – Continue
  * Убери его – Clean him up
  * Он был прав – He was right
  * Мы берем его с собой – We take him with us
  * Commet tu t’appelle – How are you
  * Tres mal – Very bad
  * J'ai l'impression que mon corps est en feu – I feel like my body is on fire
  * Avez-vous besoin du docteur – Do you need the doctor
  * Où as-tu appris à parler français – Where did you learn to speak French
  * Ma nourrice – My nurse maid



**Author's Note:**

> Sorry not sorry..… No, I am sorry. Hope you liked it.
> 
> Does anyone know where Billy lived in California before the divorce and marriage to Susan? I would love to know for story purposes.


End file.
